Method of reducing dependence on tobacco

ABSTRACT

A method or reducing dependence on cigarette smoking or tobacco which comprises placing sequentially in the mouth a series of infusion bags containing tobacco in decreasing amounts.

United States Patent 1191 1111 3,757,798

Lambert 1 1 Sept. 11, 1973 [54] METHOD OF REDUCING DEPENDENCE ON 3,639,607 2/1972 Phillips 131/8 A X TOBACCO 1,234,279 7/1917 Buchanan 131/5 2,306,400 12/1942 Menzcl 131/5 [76] inventor: William M. Lambert, 1516 Beaver 194,197 377 viuamm 131 5 Darn Rd., Point Pleasant, NJ. 189,604 4/1877 Cauhape 131/5 [22] Filed Jan 3 1972 45,489 12/1864 Greer 131/5 [21] App]. No.: 215,010 Primary Examiner Robert W. Michell Assistant Examiner-George M. Yahwak 52 us. (:1 131/1, 131/5, 131/8 A Schuyler et [51] Int. Cl. A241 47/00 [58] Field of Search 131/5, 2, 17 [57] ABSTRACT A method or reducing dependence on cigarette smok- [56] Refere Ci d 1 ing or tobacco which comprises placing sequentially in UNITED STATES PATENTS the mouth a series of infusion bags containing tobacco 904,521 11 1903 Ellis 131/2 m decreas'ng amounts 1,927,984 9/1933 Krensky 131/2 4 Claims, 3 Drawing Figures PATENTED 7 3. 757. 798

METHOD OF REDUCING DEPENDENCE ON TOBACCO My invention consists of a new application of existing ideas, substances, and processes to make a new product which I call a mouth bag. It consists of enclosing a desired substance in a small rectangular or elliptical or lozenge shaped bag or envelope made of filter paper of the general type now used in making tea bags, to make an infusion package or bag. The small filled envelope is then placed in the mouth, moistened with saliva with the aid of the tongue, then deposited by the tongue to a desired position between outer gum and inner cheek or lip where it assumes a lozenge or flattened ellipsoid shape; formed and then retained by the slight groove between outer gum and check or lip, in the same manner as a chew of tobacco or snuff.

Saliva passes through the filter paper moistening the contained substance. A solution or juice of the contained substance then passes back through the filter paper and juice content ingested primarily by mouth tissues and secondarily by the digestive system. The package may be dislodged from time to time by the tongue and gently rolled or manipulated and remoistened with saliva; then redeposited in a desired location between gum and cheek or lip, thus renewing the benefits periodically until bag contents or juice therefrom are exhausted.

The whole bag may then be easily disposed of in a waste receptable leaving no particles in the mouth to be concerned with.

In general, envelopes or bags made of the type filter papers now used in making tea bags are satisfactory. The paper used must have no harmful effect nor undesirable reaction with saliva or its enzymes, and paper permeability must be regulated to suit the nature of the enclosed substance and rate of juice flow desired.

Suitable envelopes may be made by several different methods, such as with folding flaps, rolled like a small cigarette section with the ends twisted and sealed, or an envelope with its edges heat sealed.

The drawing submitted herewith depicts the mouth bag of this invention in a front view as shown in FIG. 1, an end view as shown in FIG. 2, and a top view as shown in FIG. 3.

The mouthbag comprises a pouch area 14 which is filled with the desired substance, folded and heat sealed on three sides with edge seal 12. It is made by using filter paper designed for heat sealing and the processes of filling and sealing similar to those now used in making heat sealed single-chamber tea bags. The hatched areas in the drawing are the sealed edges. The bag shown is approximately three times actual size and is that of a mouth bag filled with finely-cut chewing tobacco or snuff. The mouth bag dimensions will vary with the nature of its contents; but generally should not exceed three-fourths inch in width and 1% inches in length, and when filled have a thickness of not more than one-fourth inch. Considerably smaller dimensions are desirable with some substances as contents. In use of the heat sealed type'envelope the sealed edges fiatten down along the body of the bag when moist in the mouth. However, the manufacture of the mouth bag must be more precise than that of a tea bag and the heat sealed area reduced in process or trimmed, as in use my mouth bag is not subject to as much stress nor high temperature as a tea bag, and any excess nonfunctional paper should be eliminated.

The desired substances is placed in the envelope allowing only sufiicient space for swelling when moistened and then the envelope totally enclosed or sealed to preventescape of any particles of the contents when the entire apparatus is placed in the mouth.

The enclosed substance or envelope contents may consist of any substance from which a desirable juice, solution, or colloidal suspension may be obtained when combined with saliva in the mouth. Contents may consist of such desirable substances as finely-cut chewing tobacco or snuff; ground and/or instant coffee or tea; a mixture of varying amounts of chewing tobacco and coffee or tea or other substance; breath freshener; medicine for treatment of mouth or digestive tract disorders; or any other desirable substance to which the mouth bag saliva solution principle can be applied.

My invention is a new product enabling the use of many substances in the mouth now not so used as well as improving and enhancing the use of substances now used in the mouth; It allows use of a substance to be ingested by solution with saliva in a mild and prolonged manner, use-life of the contents being controlled by the degree of permeability of the filter paper and particle size of the contents, both variable to suit the desired use. The mouth bag avoids direct contact of a substance with inner mouth surfaces which may be irratating in some cases. It is superior to a tablet by its lack of hardness and its ready adaptation to the shape of surrounding mouth tissues. It is superior to combining a desired substance with chewing gum, wax, or other inert bulk in that bulk is held to a minimum, which, with lack of necessity for unsightly chewing, lessens the tendency toward undesirable excessive salivation. The mouth bag is superior to tablet, gum, wax, and loose substances by its ability to confine a substance outside of the central area of the mouth without discomfort as it uses the naturalrecess formed by the outside of the gum and the opposing inner lip or inner cheek surface to be formed into a flattened lozenge or flattened ellipsoid shape and is then naturally retained in position by this same recess. For this reason the mouth bag allows the user to converse freely and even drink socially without others being aware of it. It is unique in these respects, totally new and convenient. Its direct simplicity makes it superior for use of substances that require other equipment and processes such as boiling water for beverage steeping and containers for liquids by eliminating these requirements as well as the time necessary for their use.

One of the most valuable uses of the mouth bag is for use with finely cut chewing tobacco or snuff as the contained substance, in which case I call it a Tobacco Bag. The tobacco bag provides a new method of chewing tobacco which is a great improvement over existing methods. In addition to the general advantages of con trol and prolongation of benefit which the mouth bag provides for any desired substance, the tobacco bag provides some measure of protection from the harmful effects of accidentally swallowing a chew of tobacco in that the whole contents of a chew are not instantly released in the stomach. Use of my tobacco bag provides for ingestion of nicotine but eliminates or greatly diminishes many undesirable aspects of the chewing of tobacco as now practiced, as follows:

1. Burning and irritation of mouth tissues and consequent soreness.

2. Particles running around the mouth," particularly with snuff.

3. Collection of particles at the back of the throat causing unpleasant hacking to dislodge them.

4. Irritation and soreness of the surfaces of the cheeks and inner lips by abrasion from the teeth caused by working these surfaces to control the tobacco particles or gather and roll the chew.

5. Use of sweet or flavored binding substances which cause excessive salivation and need for copious spitting.

6. pffting out into the air particles of tobacco which have come loose from the main body of the chew.

7. Unsightly tobacco particles showing on the lips or on the teeth when the user smiles.

8. Inability to drink socially with a chew in the mouth.

9. Difficult, socially unacceptable disposal of the tobacco after use.

All of the foregoing physically painful, uncomfortable or socially unacceptable objections are totally eliminated or greatly reduced with use of my tobacco bag.

Thus the tobacco bag enhances tobacco chewing for those now enjoying it, gives the habit such social acceptance, and eliminates so many objections as to make it appealing to new tobacco chewers.

There now exists an urgent need for a means to enable cigarette smokers to quit smoking. Indeed the tobacco bag was conceived by the inventors personal need for just such a product. Personal investigation of products and means, conversations with medical doctors, and consideration of experiment results over a period of years finally led to the invention of the tobacco bag. Reports indicate that nicotine is unique in its ability to create a brain hormone, so that severe withdrawal symptons such as mental depression reported by cigarette smokers attempting to quit are very real indeed. Many doctors and other intense mental workers are simply unable to function without nicotine.

My tobacco bag fills this need by providing for ingestion of nicotine and enabling new tobacco chewers, particularly women, to quit smoking by eliminating many of the undesirable aspects of conventional tobacco chewing. There is a wide range of strengths and tastes in chews and snuffs already produced, and the tobacco bag can be filled with the type to suit the intended trade and tastes of the consumers.

Even with contents value exhausted, the user tends to retain the tobacco bag in the mouth, prolonging its psychological something in the mouth or ninny bottle effect.

My tobacco bag provides the least harmful method of using tobacco that I have been able to discover, at the same time providing all of the users physical, physiological, and psychological needs.

I have also invented a new product in further adapting the tobacco bag version of the mouth bag to make a Mixed Bag which provides the means for those who wish to quit the use of nicotine entirely, or reduce their intake to a desired level. The mixed bag uses for content a mixture of finely cut chewing tobacco or snuff and ground and/or instant coffee or tea, or other substance including denicotinized tobacco with bags arranged in a sequence containing progressively less tobacco and more coffee or tea or other substance with the end bags in the series containing no tobacco but only coffee or tea or other substance. This arrangement specifically with coffee or tea substitutes caffeine for nicotine physiologically as well as eliminating the physical habits of smoking which all go to strengthen the users ability to kick the habit. Other desirable substances such as denicotinized tobacco may be used instead of coffee or tea in the progressive series, with precaution used that no tannin is ingested if tea is used. The progressive idea is old, but the form, convenience, and workability are entirely new and useful as with no other combination of products for the purpose intended. Cigarette smoking is stopped immediately and the user may progress with nicotine withdrawal in a socially acceptable and private manner at his own pace or hold a level of nicotine ingestion at which he is able to function.

The mouth bag may be used to contain finely ground and/or instant coffee or tea which I then call my Coffee Bag or Tea Bag or Bagette. The use of coffee or tea directly in the mouth in this fashion is a new product offering the user his choice of beverage replacements in a convenient form which supplies the smae physiological effect as a cup of coffee or tea but saves times and eliminates all the necessary process and equipment such as stove, boiling water, containers, spoons and other accoutrements. The coffee or tea bag or bagette may be used almost anywhere and the convenient caffeine supply enables the bag to be used to furnish a lift especially to users such as long haul truck drivers, many of whom now use benzedrine and possibly worse substances. Flavors or sugars may be added to promote the flow of saliva in this specific use as saliva flow is minimal in using the mouth bag, and the bag contents must suit the varying tastes of users as with the beverage forms. The mouth bag using this content offers its superior physical advantages as well as extraction advantages again to faimiliar products but to so greatly increase the convenience of their use as to create a new and highly useful convenience product.

The mouth bag may be used to contain an odor eliminating substance or one that freshens the breath, in which case I call it a Breath Bag. The mouth bag's operational principles of salival extraction and ability to re main indefinitely where placed in the mouth, outside of the central oral cavity, make the breath bag unique. With no physical bulk loose in the mouth as with other forms such as gums and tablets, the user is able to converse freely and even drink socially without other persons being aware that the breath bag is in the users mouth. The unsightly chewing or rolling around the tongue and teeth are eliminated, and there is no speech impediment created by the breath bag. The long lasting feature of the general mouth bag also makes the breath bag superior to one shot liquid agents such as mouth washes and odor killing liquids, as the breath bags effeet is longer lasting, and it may be carried and used anywhere conveniently and unobtrusively. The breath bags use is a new means of coping with the bad breath problem offering marked advantages over products now existing for this purpose.

The mouth bag may be used to contain a substance having medicinal value. This I call a Medicine Bag. This is a new product whereby medicines can be contained and applied in the mouth for treatment of gum, lip,

cheek, tongue or throat disorders such as canker sores, toothaches, abscessed gums, p yorrheal disorders, sore throat, coughs, and others. In addition, internal medicines such as digestive aids may be applied by use of the medicine bag, the patient using the mouth bags long lasting characteristics to obtain a sustained medication. More or less saliva-flow inducing agents may be added to the contents and the permeability of the filter paper and particle size of the contents varied to control rate of use of the desired medication. The medicine bag is a new and convenient method of medication with many advantages over other physical forms as well as having the ability to confine the medication and sustain it in a local area better than any other form.

The mouth bag may be used for many other substances following the same principles as in the specifications and I believe that my mouth bag is a new and useful item having a general value far beyond that of any other single method, and is generally more useful than all other methods combined for the uses and purposes expressed herein.

A day s pocket or purse supply of bags should be contained in an airtight convenience package to preserve freshness.

My mouth bag principle is vastly different from the general infusion package principle as exemplified by the tea bag for human ingestion because of its specific design; incorporating a specific size and shape and variable construction material to produce an exact specific convenient physical form which readily adapts itself to a unique specific location in the human body.

This designed for location principle is importantly different. The wet, pliable, mouth bag is individually formed in the area of recess, or groove between the outer gum and inner check or lip and assumes the shape of this grove, exactly corresponding to the shape of this area in each individuals mouth, the location being that which the user himself finds most comfortable.

The individually shaped bag is then comfortable retained by the surroundings that formed it, a more or lessperfect fit, and is held out of the center of the mouth creating no speech or liquid drinking impedimerit.

vThe tea bag principle uses water for solution and extraction and requires additional accoutrements for beneficial content use. The mouth bag requires none of these, using only the natural mouth saliva as an agent thus creating a marked advantage over the general beverage type of use of infusion package as well as eliminating the time required to produce benefits.

The tea bag principle is useful only for making beverages. The mouth bag may be used not only with a variety of substances now used for beverages, but with numerous other non-beverage types of substances such as tobacco to which the use of the intermediary beverage making tea bag process would simply not be applicable or useful. A most obvious difference is the primary conception of the whole invention of using a bag directly in the mouth with the advantage of the simple direct use of saliva for ingestion primarily in the mouth as opposed to the tea bag type product being ingested primarily in the digestive tract after a required relatively complicated procedure to produce a benefit.

The mouth bag is vastly superior to the use of loose particles of a substance in the mouth. With chewing tobacco content, for example, the objectionable features mouth bag as to make the chewing of tobacco a new and different experience, particularly for novice chewers. Most of the objections related to loose tobacco particles would apply to almost any substance used loosely in the mouth. The mouth bag confines the useful substance to a specific mass and location. The mouth bag has the advantages over gum, wax, tablet, and loose substance forms of not allowing direct contact of the contained substance with mouth tissues. This may seem of small value to the non-user, but with some types of chewing tobacco, for example, direct use creates burning and irritation of the tissues lining the mouth. Use of the mouth bag containing identical chewing tobacco does not. This non-contact, nonirritating feature is of great value and is an example of enabling the use of beneficial products such as chewing tobacco which is now undesirable to many people.

Although gum, wax, and tablets form a desirable mass, their use is difierent in that they are all used in the central mouth cavity creating speed impediments and all subject to considerable obvious mouth and tongue manipulation such as chewing and sucking, which contributes to excessivesalivation. The mouth bag is superior to all of these in these respects in being retained outside the central mouth cavity, requiring only periodic gentle manipulation to obtain benefits, so that use of the mouth bag is unnoticed by other persons. The mass form of the mouth bag is superior to all other forms in being pliably adapted to a comfortable specific location of the users choice and the mouth bag mass consists of as little non-functional material as it is possible to produce in any form functional for the uses under consideration.

Use of the mouth bag allows the user to self-regulate the use-rate of the contained substance to a great degree, which is not practical with loose substances, gum, wax, or tablets.

In addition to those substances now beneficially used by retention in the mouth, the mouth bag enables the use of substances not now used directly in the mouth such as, but not limited to, numerous beverage bases and other extraction products.

The mouth bag is an extremely useful invention, a unique product which combines the advantages and values of existing forms, processes, and products; and eliminates so many of the objections, limitations, and disadvantages as to make a totally new product which will expand the use of many substances to the extent of opening whole new fields of commercial production of desirable products. I therefor feel that the mouth bag is worthy of a broad general patent without restriction as to specific substance contained therein.

The mouth bag creates a vast improvement over the infusion bag as now used for consumption products as exemplfied by the basic tea bag principle. As advantageous differences cited in the specification and foregoing broad independent claim having demonstrated, the mouth bag can be used to provide, facilitate, or enhance the beneficial use of many substances to which the tea bag principle is not now applied. It may be said that this is too obviously simple an invention to warrant a patent but I claim that it is not. The use of the mouth bag with chewing tobacco contents, for example, may be deemed simple, but it creates a new product of vastly improved characteristics over what it is in use with great benefit to society by enabling the cessation of cigarette smoking.

Chewing tobacco is but one of many substances to which the tea bag principle is not now applied basically because existing use of the tea bag principle does not produce a desirable use or benefit. Specifically, a cup full of tobacco juice or solution made as is a cup of tea is worthless, while tobacco juice made available in the mouth with use of the mouth bag is of great value and benefit. I only refer to tobacco to demonstrate strongly the great difference and improvement that the mouth bag creates. The same marked improvement created by the mouth bag is applicable to other substances and I therefore claim that the mouth bag is a new useful product when used to contain any substance from which a benefit or desired useful end product or result is obtained, which contained product specifically has not been heretofore used with application of the tea bag infusion principle to produce a beneficial or desired useful product.

The mouth bag is a new and useful product when used to contain any substance from which a benefit or desired useful end product or result is obtained, which contained substance specifically has not been heretofore used as the contents of an infusion bag to obtain a beneficial or desired useful product or result specifically by use of the bag in the mouth.

Using my mouth bag with a specific content of finely cut chewing tobacco or snuff, called a Tobacco Bag, is a tremendous improvement over any known method of the chewing of tobacco by its ability to eliminate or diminsih the undesirable aspects of usual tobacco chewing as detailed in the foregoing specification. The mouth bags containment ability confines particles to a specific area. Rate of use is controlled by manipulation to suit the user. Salival flow is minimal. There is no direct contact of mouth tissues by tobacco. The tobacco bag is superior to combining tobacco with gum, wax, or mass forming adhesive syrups or forming into tablets by reason of its comfortable retentive mouth position, reduced mouth motion, lack of bulk, and lack of irritation by direct tissue contact, minimal salival flow, lack of speech impediment, and affording liquid drinking ability to the user. All of which make the tobacco bag superior to any other form or method of chewing tobacco, and l firmly believe that the tobacco bag affords the least harmful method of consumer use of tobacco products and so improves the chewing of tobacco as to make it a desirable and socially acceptable substitute for cigarette smoking. The tobacco bag is more than useful; it is a necessity for many cigarette smoking nicotine addicts, including women.

I am convinced by much personal experiment and knowledge of all forms of tobacco and its uses, and have demonstrated herein, that the tobacco bag is so superior, novel and necessarily attractive to so many people that its use will revive the presently dying chewing tobacco and snuff industry.

It is true that the tobacco bag combines various well known products, substances, and processes which are old. However, it so combines their beneficial and desirable advantages, and at the same time eliminates objectionable or unnecessary characteristics as to create a i new useful, indeed urgently necessary, product.

ground and/or instant coffee or tea or mixtures of tobacco and other desirable substances such as denicotinized tobacco; the mixtures to be composed of progressively smaller proportions of tobacco to make a series of bags with the final bags in the series containing no tobacco with nicotine contents, provides a new and useful means to enable tobacco users to quit the use of tobacco entirely. Use of coffee or tea substitutes caffeine for nicotine in progressively larger amounts. in creating this application of the mouth bag I have combined its many general features, as recited in the foregoing specification and claims, with novel content to invent a new and useful product worthy of a specific patent.

Using my mouth bag with a content of ground and/or instant coffee or tea enables the previously described advantages of the mouth bag to provide a new means to enjoy coffee or tea. The coffee bag or tea bag or bagette may be used anywhere, eliminates the time and brewing and serving accoutrements necessary to enjoy coffee or tea in beverage form, and thus is very convenient. Its minimum non-functional bulk and lack of speech impediment make it superior to gums and tablets, yet its use is regulated and prolonged. Suitable additives may be used with the coffee or tea to suit tastes. Convenience of the coffee or tea bag can help eliminate use of benzedrine now prevalent in certain occupations. Therefore I claim that this product is a new and useful invention entitled to the protection of a patent.

Using the mouth bag with a contents of substance to deodorize the breath and eliminate mouth odors to make a Breath Bag creates a new and useful product with many advantages over existing products used for this purpose. Using the numerous advantages of the mouth bag as previously described, the breath bag causes no speed impediment for conversing users as compared with tablets and gums; and the breath bag offers a sustained use of odor elimination far in excess of any one-shot mouth-wash or odor eliminating liquid. The breath bag is the users own secret allowing him to avoid embarrassment in personal contact situations.

Using my mouth bag with a contents of a substance with medicinal value to make a medicine bag uses the previously described advantages of the mouth bag to create a new and valuable sustained method of applying medicine both directly for treatment of disorders of the mouth and throat areas as recited in the specification and claims and also internally when it is desired to maintain moderate medication, such as a digestive aid, over a sustained period. The medicine bag is a new and very valuable addition to the field of medical treatment of many disorders, offering many advantages over other forms of application as expressed in specifications and prior claims, plus its own unique medicinal value.

I claim:

1. A method of reducing dependence on cigarette smoke or tobacco comprising placing in the mouth, in the area between the outer gum and inner cheek or lip, a small saliva permeable infusion bag comprising an infusorial filter paper package material enveloping a fill material comprising tobacco, extracting nicotine from said tobacco by contacting said tobacco with saliva, removing said package from the mouth and thereafter placing in the mouth small saliva permeable packages comprising an infusorial filter paper package material sively greater amounts and tobacco content in progressively smaller amounts. 7

3. The method of claim 2 wherein the nicotine-free substance is a caffeine-containing substance.

4. The method of claim 1 wherein dependence on nicotine due to smoking is entirely eliminated.

i l i 

1. A method of reducing dependence on cigarette smoke or tobacco comprising placing in the mouth, in the area between the outer gum and inner cheek or lip, a small saliva permeable infusion bag comprising an infusorial filter paper paCkage material enveloping a fill material comprising tobacco, extracting nicotine from said tobacco by contacting said tobacco with saliva, removing said package from the mouth and thereafter placing in the mouth small saliva permeable packages comprising an infusorial filter paper package material enveloping a fill material comprising tobacco, said thereafter placed packages containing progressively less tobacco whereby progressively less nicotine is extracted by the saliva so that the dependence on cigarette smoke or tobacco is reduced.
 2. The method of claim 1 wherein the small permeable pack contain a nicotine-free substance in progressively greater amounts and tobacco content in progressively smaller amounts.
 3. The method of claim 2 wherein the nicotine-free substance is a caffeine-containing substance.
 4. The method of claim 1 wherein dependence on nicotine due to smoking is entirely eliminated. 